7 Reasons God Deserves My Praise

October 25, 2016 Year C

Psalm 65:1-13

During an awards ceremony, when a person wins a prize or an award, they are praised for their accomplishments and achievements. The person who introduces the winner will spend time telling you why the person who receives the award or prize is deserving of it.

In Psalm 65, we see David introducing God as the nominee for the Praise award. David gives a speech in the form of a psalm. David literally writes a song that tells the reader why God deserves praise. David says that “praise is rightfully” God’s alone (Psalm 65:1).

God deserves my praise. He deserves your praise. David shares seven reasons why God deserves praise.

1. He hears and answers my prayer. (Psalm 65:2)

People come to God and pray to Him. The reason we do that is because we know that God listens and answers prayer.

Knowing that God answers my prayer should give me the reason to shout to Him in praise.

2. I am reminded that God has paid for my sin. (Psalm 65:3)

Sometimes, I can feel overwhelmed when I realize how much sin and wrong I have done in my life. I think of the time when I rejected what God wanted me to do. I rebelled against His authority. Its in times like these that I have to remind myself that “where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more” (Romans 5:20). Only God has been able to make payment for my sin. Only God has been able to eliminate the need for me to pay for my own sins. Only God has been able to put me in a right relationship with Him. God did this through the death of His Son Jesus on the cross.

3. God wants to spend time with me. (Psalm 65:4)

God wants to hear my prayers. God has paid my sins. Why does He do all this? The reason is because God wants to spend time with me.

God has chosen me to spend time with me. He has decided to share His goodness with me. He wants to take out of His eternally busy schedule and be with me.

4. God has proven to be my Hope. (Psalm 65:5)

God deserves my praise because He hears my prayers, has paid for my sin, wants to spend time with me, and He is my Hope.

God has already shown how He has provided to His people. He sent the plagues to Egypt to deliver His people out of slavery. He parted the Red Sea to provide a way to safety. These are just two of the numerous ways in which God has shown how He has manipulated circumstances to provide His people.

But God is the Hope for everyone – “the hope of all the ends of the earth.” There are ways in which God has showed each person who trusts in Him a way out of difficulty. He has provided paths of safety for people who have encountered dangers and toils. He does works of might and miracle to provide a way for His people.

5. God controls the power of the Earth. (Psalm 65:6-7)

God deserves my praise, not just because He takes care of me. God deserves my praise because He takes care of the place around me.

God created the Earth. He created a place for me to live on Earth. People may fear hurricanes, tornadoes, dustbowls, and floods. Yet, all of these potential environmental catastrophes do not go unnoticed. God controls the Earth He has made. He can calm the roaring sea. He can move mountains. Nature is under God’s sovereign control. If God has the Earth under control, then He can certainly take care of me.

6. God makes the Earth provide for me. (Psalm 65:9-13)

There are ways in which I can make the Earth provide for me. I can grow crops, I can raise animals. Ultimately, my work depends on God’s provision.

In Psalm 65, David is reminded that without God, the Earth cannot provide for David’s needs. God visits the Earth and waters it. God prepares the Earth so that the Earth can provide for my needs.

Nature does not deserve my praise for providing for my needs. Man’s ingenuity does not need my praise for providing for my needs. God alone deserves my praise for providing the means of my provision.

7. God is my Source of joy. (Psalm 65:8)

Ultimately, God deserves my praise because He is my Source. He provides for my spiritual needs (Psalm 65:1-5). He also provides for my physical needs (Psalm 65:6-13). He has provided in the past, present, and will continue to do so in my future. He is my Reason for being. He will be my Reason for eternity. Ultimately, I owe my life to Him. Yet, I should not praise Him with hesitation. Between my spiritual needs (Psalm 65:1-4), and my physical needs (Psalm 65:9-13), God provides for my emotional needs (Psalm 65:8). God is the source of my joy. Because God is the source of my joy, He ultimately will receive my praise, and deservedly so.

There are derivative sources of joy in my life. My wife, my children, my dogs, my horses all give me joy. But these relationships bring joy to my not because they intrinsically make me happy. They make me happy because God provided them for me. I enjoy my wife, my children, my dogs, and my horses because God has blessed me with them.

God has blessed me – which gives me  joy. For that, I will join David in giving praise to my God.

Prayer: God, I praise You because deserve my praise.